FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
MARCH 13, 2023
THIRD MONDAY OF LENT
WORD of the DAY
Jesus said to the people in the
synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place…When the
people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose
up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which
their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the
midst of them and went away. (Luke 4: 24/28-30)
“How shall I live this Word? 
Instead of opening themselves to faith and allowing themselves to be involved in God’s gift, His fellow citizens close themselves off on what they know and expect from Him. Knowledge and claim of the flesh prevent faith. The claim to know prevents us from recognizing the gift. No gift can be claimed. Jesus’ rejection is the same that happened to the prophets who were able to operate only where there was no pretension of God’s intervention. Jesus finds himself before people full of indignation, of anger, people with a hard heart, incapable of accept the gift. Hardness of heart leads to rejection and this heralds His end to us, but Jesus passes and goes: a sign of His resurrection.
Give us a docile heart Lord, open to your gift!!
The Voice of Pope Francis – on Sts. Peter and Paul Homily 29 June 2020
The second word, prophecy. […] Today we need prophecy, but true prophecy: not talkers who promise the impossible, but witnesses that show the Gospel is possible. You don’t need miraculous manifestations. […] We need lives that manifest the miracle of God’s love. Not power, but coherence. Not words, but prayer. Not proclamations, but service. Do you want a prophetic Church? Start serving, and be quiet. Not theory, but testimony. We don’t need to be rich, but to love the poor; not to earn for ourselves, but to spend for others; not the consensus of the world, that good feeling with everyone – we say, “feeling good with God and with the devil”, feeling good with everyone; no, this is not prophecy.”
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Sr. Monica Gianoli, FMA
